Why Wrigley Field Must Be Destroyed

Why Wrigley Field Must Be Destroyed

I don't know Howard, but going to Wrigley makes me a baseball fan for the day and not a team follower. When I make it to Fenway I'll feel the same way. That day will be about baseball. That day will be be about watching ball where it's been played for so many years. That day will be like a day at Wrigley or a night at Riverfront. That day will be about being a baseball fan and I'm gonna love it.

Why Wrigley Field Must Be Destroyed

So howard, it sucks that people go to see the sox? I don't get it. I mean, I get your frustration but I don't get the rest. Tickets are hard to come by and you can't just walk up and get a great seat at a price you want. I doubt that you can do that is "most" cities.

You think a new park will help with that? There weren't $250 seats at Riverfront stadium. I could walk up and get a nosebleed for $3 and thanks to old Marge, get a hot dog for $1. Good parking was $5. I could buy a cigar for .25 and smoke it in my seat. Blue, Green, Yellow or Red. I miss those seats. I miss Riverfront. I caught a foul ball there, my Dad caught a foul ball there, my oldest son caught a home run there. I watched Pete there, Ken Sr. ,Johnny, George, Dan, Buddy, Spuds, Mario, Eric the Red, Nick E, Bo D, man I treasure what I saw at crappy Riverfront.

Great American Ballpark, man it's nice. Much nicer than Riverfront. I mean it has cup holders and stuff!

It needs a few generations of history though. Ballparks need seasoning, man. They need memories good or bad. A nice urinal and better sound system just can't replace familiarity.

I find it odd, your disdain for Fenway. Great American is a much nicer park to watch the Reds than Riverfront was and a much nicer park than Wrigley field.

SpoFi 2012 Fantasy Premier League Final Table

Steelers Release Hines Ward

I don't understand how you can think that a O-lineman can sign a contract for $800,000/yr for 6 years, suffer a career-threatening injury in game 3 of the season, and have the team cut him after season one, is perfectly fair.

But you think it would be perfectly fair that the team would be obligated to pay this hypothetical lineman, $4,800,000.00 for playing in three games?

You are setting up a double standard, Atheist. When teams get out of a contract, the contract is set up knowing that. When a player tries to get out of their contract, they are doing something out-of-bounds.

Atheist didn't set that double standard. The contracts are what they are, voidable at any time by one of the parties and agreed upon by both. The player signs a contract which he understands can be voided at any time. I'd like to keep it that way, do you really want Ryan Leaf, Akili Smith or Jamarcus Russell to get paid a guaranteed contract, with a zero return on the teams investment? They got enough in signing bonuses to go suck, don't feel bad for them when they don't collect on the rest of their contract.

Sure the teams can cut or release a player but that is part of the contract

Honestly, I think pretty much everyone is going to stop reading right there. I have no idea what you put in the next two paragraphs, but you're being obtuse

How is that obtuse and why would you think that pretty much everyone would stop reading right there? If you don't think the contracts are fair fine but they are what they are.

What did the Colts pay Manning last year for nothing? $23,000,000.00? And now they should just pay him $28,000,000.00 this year? Guarantee that contract and there goes $90,000,000.00 (he just signed a 5 year 90million contract in 2011) out the door. That way Colts fans could sit back on future Sunday afternoons for years to come and watch their team suck. They can be happy that Manning wasn't screwed out of his contract though. Too bad they wouldn't be able to sign free agents because they would be broke. Poor fans, poor franchise, poor future free agents, happy Peyton. Not a good idea in my opinion.

Kurt Warner: Eli Manning's No Hall of Famer (Yet)

Pete Rose accepted the punishment given to him

Well, that's the neat and tidy version, as well. He accepted the punishment which included the following: c. Nothing in this agreement shall be deemed either an admission or a denial by Peter Edward Rose of the allegation that he bet on any Major League Baseball game. At the time, that was his out for reinstatement. Giamitti's death squashed any chance of that.

"I didn't bet against my own team! This time, I mean it!"
(Oh, so we believe him now?)

Kurt Warner: Eli Manning's No Hall of Famer (Yet)

(Throw in the fact that he's done nothing but lie about it since he was caught, and I e punishment has been more than acceptable. Anyone that sheds even one ounce of pity for Rose really doesn't understand what he did then and what he's done since then.)

Uh, he bet on the Reds to win, as manager. Then he lied about it. Then he came clean. I understand.

Giants edge Patriots 21 to 17

Giants edge Patriots 21 to 17

Every ball Welker gets his hands on should be a catch (is a catchable ball), so the throw was good enough.

Gee whiz, that's tough. Ozzie Smith got his glove on a lot balls he didn't end up making the play on. Not too many other people would have even gotten a glove on them. Wes almost made a spectacular catch, I can't fault him for not being able to haul that one in, his ability and effort made it "catch-able."

It was a nice catch, but wide receivers in the NFL make those kinds of catches. I don't think it was particularly memorable.

Yes they do, I'd say every week. I'd also say that was by far the best throw of the night from either quarterback. This was however a heck of a play, given the timing, by both players.

Disclaimer: I was rooting for Eli, because he had the balls to go to Ole Miss and his brother didn't. He isn't afraid of being put under a microscope and he really can up his game. Good for him. I am also glad that Brady and the Hoodie have another loss in the big one. They've won enough, I didn't want them to get cocky or anything:)

Les Miles Rips Recruit who Spurned LSU

I wanted to draw the distinction between LSU and Notre Dame, including no other colleges in the comparison.

That's fine but I think graduation percentage of athletes is a silly way to draw that distinction.

Auburn has a worse overall athletic graduation rate than LSU. So LSU must be a better a school. You've found some people at Auburn have received an excellent education but based on graduation rates I'd say you'd find more have received an excellent education from LSU and undoubtedly from Notre Dame with their 96% graduation rate of football players.

But if you scroll down a little further on your link you'd find that based on graduation percentage of football players, Auburn (100%) is the bomb diggity for white kids and therefore the best school academically for Gunner. Kind of silly.

Giants Sought to Give Kyle Williams Another Concussion

Patriots Win Laugher Over Broncos

If you're going to give Tebow credit for winning games the Broncos won due to the dominance of the Broncos' D or to opponents' fuckups (i.e., Marion Barber), then you have to give him the blame when they lose.

That's fine but if you are going to give Denver's defense credit for all of the wins you surely need to give them credit for losing this one. The Pats complete dismantling of the Denver defense put an offense which is designed to run the ball in quite a bad spot.

And Tebow wasn't a rookie this year. He had 3 starts last year as well. His completion percentage and QB rating went down this season.

He's started 16 games. He spent one training camp after being drafted with a coaching staff that was gone after his rookie year and was locked out of an off season with the new coaches. He was dropped down the depth chart while Orton was around and surely didn't get many reps working with the first team until almost midseason. I'll cut him a little slack for that and for the fact that Denver's skill players on offense pretty much suck. They definitely need upgrades at w/r and t/e.

Not that it would have mattered last night the way the Pats defense had their way with the offensive line. I can't name a quarterback who could have been successful for the Broncos last night.

Alabama Wins BCS

While LSU & Alabama were #1 and #2, it seems like good TV business to make sure the championship is between teams from two different conferences.

I'm a Gator fan and an SEC fan and I totally agree. By default, I'll typically just root for a team from the SEC. Last night, without any rooting interest and the game being a bore, I just quit watching. I'd rather have watched an SEC team pound a team from a different conference again.

SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle

Why is it a clean shot for the H2H de-cleater of Mendenhall at the goal line? Gocong LAUNCHED himself, leading with his helmet, directly at Mendenhall's helmet. Nobody's saying that was a "premeditated, deliberate attempt to injure". If Colt truly was a "runner", how is Harrison's tackle any different than Gocongs?

Haven't seen it but you are talking about a a situation where everyone is diving in and a running back who has the ball. Colt was not truly a runner and this was in the open field. It was a cheap shot plain and simple.

Not to mention your taught from age 5 to lower your head and it's all rather instinctive. My 7 year old lowers his head to hit.

You're nuts.

Well we have different impressions of what "lower your head" means. I'm not talking about looking face down at the ground or bending over at the waist. If I'm standing straight up and duck my head like I'm about to hit somebody (what I call duck my head anyways) it only shrinks my height about 4-5 inches. My eyes stay up, my waist barely bends..only thing that happens is my shoulders haunch and my head lowers. Basically EXACTLY what Harrison did there

You better be clear on how you define lowering your head to him (your 7 year old), because I don't know what the heck you are talking about. We'd run steps if we lowered are head and this was still back in the day when we weren't allowed to drink water for more than three seconds during two a days. Nobody is taught to lower their frickin' head when making a tackle.

Warner to Tebow: A Little Less Jesus, Please

I am just stating what I find annoying and in some ways offensive, by Tebow's insistence on interjecting religion and his religious view in a place where it really doesn't belong.

And yet you don't see the irony in you doing the same? You chose a username that makes quite the insistence of interjecting your beliefs in regards to religion on a sports site.

I am not saying I have a problem with him or his values, is just this: if you go to a church you expect to be preached to and you can choose to go or not, if you go to a Disney Movie you have a right and expectation you will not see porn, if I tune into a football game or post game show, I have a right not to be ambushed with a speech about Jesus' love.

I have made the same argument about tuning in to spofi and expecting to read about and discuss sports, not politics etc. The general response I get is that I don't have to come here or read the posts or articles etc. or that I should just enjoy the conversation that was spawned. That's where that snarky comment came from, atheist.

Other than that, my only issue with your posts and the point I was making was that you were not being accurate with your portrayal of Tebow.

My point was whether he means to or not, the thanking of Jesus for everything seems to me to imply that he believes Jesus is responsible for his success and therefore cares in some way about it.

You are not getting it. He thanks Jesus all the time because in Tebow's words, "he deserves it for what he did." He believes Jesus suffered and died on the cross for him. (from the Bayless interview) He is thanking Jesus for what Jesus did.

Now, when he says he is blessed, that means that God gave him the ability to destroy opposing defenses and win football games. It's code;)

when I tune into a game or a post game show, I want to hear about and see football, not be preached to or have someone's brand of religion jammed down my throat.

You want him to shut up? Great. Just don't use a brush that's too broad in your characterizing him. As is said here all the time if you don't like it you don't have to read it or in this case watch it. Right? Haven't I learned that here? I believe I have.

Plummer to Tebow: A Little Less Jesus, Please

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

Garrard's a good quarterback who suffered from a lack of decent receivers.

Yeah, not trying to knock Garrard. The guy seems to know how to manage a game, for sure. At times he had a good running game, a good defense and a good wide receiver and tight end. He always played smart, limiting turnovers, scrambling a little etc.

In Tebow's defense, his team traded their best wide receiver when he became the starter. He has no elite talent to throw to. He needs all the help he can get in the passing game and he isn't going to get it any time soon.

Just so I'm clear, I can't possibly argue that the defense hasn't been more of a factor than Tebow in their wins. I'm just gonna roll with this, the defense is playing better because Tebow willed them to:)

Chicago Cubs Hire Dale Sveum as Manager

I recollect mentioning old Dale before, something about me having his rookie card, Topps #327, NOT linking to that post, however. On the back of the card it says Dale enjoys both tennis and golf. Dale, switch hitter, throws right, #1 draft pick by the Brewers in 1982, born 11-23-63.

Happy upcoming b-day Dale. Why I still have your rookie card in my desk drawer or even have it period is a baseball mystery.

New York Times: Paterno's Exit Underway at Penn State

Best hurry up and get your licks in against Penn State. The national sale of pitchforks and torches going on at Home Depot, Lowe's, and WalMart ends next week.

Yeah, unfortunately, the price is going to skyrocket as more information comes out and demand grows. I'm simply betting that this gets a whole lot worse for Penn State as more information comes out, Howard. So, I'd say best to hurry up and defend the institution and the people involved now before they become entirely indefensible.

We are going to get more information on exactly what took place here and I don't see how any additional information can be anything but worse than what's already been revealed. I mean do you see any potential for future news to be anything but horrible?

Howie Kendrick Angers Neighbor in Autograph Flap

On what planet is that an appropriate response to someone not doing your child a favor?

On the same planet where people expect adults not to be such an asshole that they make an eight year old cry?

I shudder at the thought of a Girl Scout ringing your doorbell, or Kendricks.

Dad is acting as if Kendrick owed their child something when he definitely did not. Passing on that sort of entitlement to your child is a big mistake.

Dad is acting as if Kendrick owed his eight year old some common courtesy which he definitely did.

An appropriate response by someone actually trying to parent is showing your child how to react appropriately to disappointment. Dad failed that test in a pretty major way.

Okay, so what would you tell the kid, since you seem to have this "trying to parent" thing down so well? Seriously, how would you "show" the eight year old how to "react appropriately" to being told to basically f-off by a pro baseball player who lived next door?

This kid was going to remember this day forever, unfortunately now he'll remember it as the day he learned that there aren't Angels in the outfield. All because some pompous asshole couldn't just smile and make an eight year old kid's day. I mean at eight years old, Major League ball players are next to Santa Claus in awesomeness. Kendrick would be one bad Santa and he's a shit of an adult and parent for not remembering what it was like to be a kid.

Howie Kendrick Angers Neighbor in Autograph Flap

Well, I'm assuming the kid cried because he was treated like crap by an adult not because he didn't get what he wanted. If you think that a kid crying automatically means he is a spoiled brat with "entitled" parents, I'll agree to disagree with that.

he drove by and yelled out the window at the Kendricks. I don't think that is going to win anyone a parent of the year award.

Or he, "drove by Howie's house and said out his car window, "I hope that makes you feel good, making my eight-year-old son cry. You have kids too, I would think you would never want someone to do that to them."

Not necessarily a most egregious act that would automatically disqualify him from the parent of the year contest. I would say Kendrick disqualified himself from any fan favorite competition though.

Report: Raiders Trading First-Round Pick for Carson Palmer

Report: Raiders Trading First-Round Pick for Carson Palmer

Palmer hasn't been the same since his knee got torn up. He's afraid to step into his throws and sails a ton of balls. Good deal for the Bengals. Palmer will look good handing the ball off to McFadden, though.

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

Browns Fan Kicked Out for Excessive Standing

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

You've got to be fucking kidding me.

Yeah. I just don't fricking understand.

Simpson gave consent for authorities to search his home, where they found six additional pounds of marijuana and paraphernalia including "packaging materials, scales and smoking devices." (from the yahoo article)

Hey, Jerome, next time say "Come back with a warrant!"

Seriously, though? I just...I mean...the Bengals are...we have a good group of young....we play hardball when it comes to contracts? I know that doesn't make sense, I just wish it would stop. Every time I get a little happy about the Bengals future, headlines show up. It was enough with Stanley Wilson.

Red Sox Pitcher Served with Papers by Yankees Fan

But, I completely understand that some men think that writing a regular check is the major component of being a good father if they aren't with the kid's mother.

I'm not sure what you meant by that.

Anyway, how often could he be visiting his child if mother had to go through the trouble and expense of hiring a process server in Boston to give him the papers?

That's a fair enough question but I don't know anything about him or the mother. You seem to really want to assume the worst of him while assuming the best of the ex-girlfriend.

From this link all I have to go on is that the guy pays what was agreed upon years ago, apparently doesn't keep in touch (for what may be a hell of a good reason or because he just doesn't give a crap, I don't know,) and the ex girlfriend decides the best way to get more money from him is to fuck with him while he's out trying to earn it.

Just not necessary, she knows exactly where he's going to be 162 times a year.

Red Sox Pitcher Served with Papers by Yankees Fan

Child support is supposed to be commensurate with salary.

Exactly. That's why when a father loses his job, it's quickly adjusted down to reflect his new income. Or is their something called arrears? You shouldn't be able to have it both ways bperk. He's making less this year than he did when they agreed on child support. Do you think it should be adjusted constantly or only when it allows for the children to go to fancy schools?

So he was served with, "papers in a child support case," what does that mean? What "papers," can be "served," in a child support case where the father is paying what was agreed upon and the mother hasn't been able to get an increase, through the courts? A lawsuit?

IMO, what a cocky little dickhead, wearing his Yankees jersey to Fenway to be his bad ass, little shit, lawyer self.

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

SportsFilter: The Thursday Huddle

No clue & I wish he'd STFU.

You don't have a clue because you are supposed to be a part of it. You're not a spectator or a friggin analyst. You're a friggin Pats fan you idiot. Quit posting here and watch some you tube replays of Steve f-n Grogan, cause THAT IS NOT HOW YOU DO IT. Then maybe you can get with the program, be a part of it, THEY WANT YOU TO BE A PART OF IT!

And to our Russian friends who still dream of the cccp and take pride in winning the space race...at least we learned how to shrink condoms and protect ourselves from something other than rain.

Burress Miffed at Coughlin, Manning, Giants Fans

And, it is illegally to knowingly/willfully discharge firearms in a public place, but he didn't do that.

He did it by mistake. So, that's just all good then? Look, he spent twenty months in the pokey for accidentally shooting himself in the leg, in a public place with a gun he had no legal right to be hiding in his drawers. If you think that gun laws are too tough, just say so. Otherwise, I just don't get your excuse making for Burress.

Burress Miffed at Coughlin, Manning, Giants Fans

If he was in Virginia, Florida, Texas, or other states, he wouldn't have committed a crime at all.

Oh, come on. You know that's not true. You have to have a permit in all of those states to conceal and carry. Let alone the discharging of the weapon in a public place, that's not just an "oops my bad," mistake.

Former NFL Player Accused of Molesting Coach's Daughter

Gotta love the culture the Bengals have developed. What a bunch of messed up creatures. Every year we wait around to find out if any Bengal player, either current or from a few years back, can top the bullshit others have been involved in.

He played for Tampa Bay and Denver longer than he played for the Bengals. Just sayin'

her parents to claim that she was forced/coerced/threatened/etc, because good girls, and Daddy's Little Princess, would never do this willingly.

Uh, whoa, dude. I have a daughter who'll be fifteen in October. Really? I'm speechless that you would assume that it was consensual and then insinuate that the father is so ignorant to think that , daddy's little princess could never have been just having a ball screwing some 33 year old.

You've got a sick view of young girls my friend. So, no. I don't know what you mean.

SportsFilter: The Saturday Huddle

Hey, did anybody know that the Tour de France is going on? Amazing what happens to foreign competitions (as it relates to US attention) when you eliminate Americans as major competitors. Is this the future of tennis and golf?

The tour (in the US), through the doping crap has turned it into the Indy 500 after the IRL and CART spat. Two of the most wonderful spectacles of sport are just reduced to side notes, by their own doing.

Tennis and golf? No, they'll be fine. Not sure what's up with tennis in America though.

It hardly qualifies as news these days when another athlete gets in Twitter trouble. But there was something a little deeper going on in the case of the tennis player Donald Young a few weeks ago. Young, upset at how the U.S.T.A. was allotting the wild-card entry it had to the French Open this month (the association used a playoff that Young lost), leveled a tweet at the organization that we can't print. Patrick McEnroe, the head of player of development, blasted back and demanded an apology from Young before his organization would back Young any further. (Young closed out his Twitter account and apologized.) Beneath it all there seemed to simmer tensions over coaching, player development and support and maybe even race.

The Times Magazine profiled Donald Young four years ago. Two years before that, as a 15-year-old, he became the youngest winner of a junior grand slam and the youngest male to occupy the top spot in the junior rankings. But by the time of our article ("Prodigy's End"), there were already worries that Young, then 17, was failing to live up to expectations. Had this prospect from the South Side of Chicago been overhyped? Were his parents to blame? His agents at I.M.G.? Was his strategy of accepting wild cards into big tournaments rather than working his way up through minor-league events mistaken? Was the U.S.T.A. failing to develop American talent properly?

The writer, Paul Wachter, also asked another, broader question: "Has there ever been a bleaker moment in American tennis?" The answer, four years later, is yes right now. This week, for the first time in four decades of computer rankings, there isn't an American player in the men's or the women's Top 10. There are only nine American men in the Top 100. The last, at No. 94, is Donald Young.